Series with the state neighbors begins; we look at “Miller Park” funding, and a former Twin.
First pitch: 7:10 Central
Weather: National Weather Service still gutted, chance showers but They Have A Roof, 70°
Opponent’s SB site: Brew Crew Ball
TV: Twins TV. Radio: Still missing the great Bob Uecker on Brewers broadcasts
Brewers starter Chad Patrick was obtained in a trade with Oakland in 2023; he made his MLB debut this March. Curt Hogg of the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel writes that Patrick’s very effective cutter is possible because he has unusually long fingers, and that this also makes a consistent breaking ball a challenge for him. So he goes cutter, low-90s fastball, sinker, and barely uses a slider or change. His full name is Chandler Allen Patrick, so I’m guessing I know what his parents’ favorite 1990s TV show was. MST3K, right? I loved that show, too. YTD digits:
Today In Baseball History has a weird one; that time David Wells of the Yankees threw a perfect game against the Twins in 1998. Wells later said he had a raging, skull-rattling hangover that day. Oh, look, that’s May 17, not May 16.
On May 16, 1984, 6,346 fans watched the Twins lose in the Metrodome. But 51,863 tickets were sold! That’s because Carl Pohlad was already making noise about getting out of the Dome lease if attendance wasn’t high enough, so local businessman Harvey Mackay bought a bunch of tickets to keep attendance over the “voids the lease” mark for that season. (Why didn’t Mackay then just give the tickets away to a charity or something? I dunno.) Mackay wrote a bunch of “how to get rich in business” books that sold well, because in the 1980s people believed that rich business guys were a model for us all. Fortunately that fever passed.
After meeting with another 1980s business guy, Rob Manfred has now decided that Shoeless Joe Jackson and Pete Rose are no longer banned from baseball. Our own BH-Baseball doesn’t like Manfred, writing “As if anything Rose or Shoeless Joe ever did could compare to the destruction of the game’s integrity by Rob Manfred. Ruth, Ted W, Sisler, and Walter J. would roll over in their graves if they could see the free base runners, the pitch timers, limited pick-off attempts, and more.” I hate Manfred more for ramping up stadium swindles, but the enemy of my enemy is my friend, so good for you, BH! (And here’s a writer who very much agrees with the same things.)
Many articles wrote that Rose and Jackson are now eligible for the Hall of Fame. That’s not quite correct; the HOF is not part of MLB, so it can enplaquen anybody it wants, MLB ban or not. It was the HOF itself that decided to keep out players banned from MLB; they could have changed their minds at any time.
Back to $tadium $windles: in 2023, Wisconsin governor Tony Evers signed off on $500 million in stadium upgrades for the Brewers. (Bud Selig was in attendance, and the Bud Selig Experience at formerly-named-Miller Park is still there.)
One of the things Neil de Mause teaches us to watch about these stories is the way they are reported. In this case, the story was reported by the AP, which has no vested interest in making the Brewers happy. (Local papers frequently want to make sports teams happy to continue gaining access.) So, what does this AP article (by Todd Richmond) say?
It says that the money is “to help the Milwaukee Brewers repair their baseball stadium.” Right away, a wrong word: “their.” The Brewers only own 36% of the stadium; the public owns the rest. That’s why the Brewers don’t pay property taxes! (Almost all US teams have this arrangement.) Also, since the article later states that the Brewers will pay $110 million, it’s more accurate to say the Brewers will be “help”ing the taxpayers foot the bill.
Next, the article states “The stadium’s glass outfield doors, seats and concourses need replacing, the stadium’s luxury suites and video scoreboard need upgrades and the stadium’s signature retractable roof, fire suppression systems, parking lots, elevators and escalators need work, according to the team.”
There’s no breakdown of what’s costing what, here. Obviously, you want to repair things that are broken. Retractable roofs are very expensive and heavy and have a lot of moving parts, so I can understand that needing repair. Fire safety and elevator/escalator maintenance are important. Seats do break. Do the concourses “need replacing”?
Most importantly, do the “luxury suites and video scoreboard need upgrades”?
I’ll bet you your first-born children that this is the primary consideration for the Brewers. Fancier exclusive seating and more of it; a swankier Jumbotron. So that the Brewers can charge people more money for tickets.
A better headline would be “Wisconsin spends $500 million to raise Brewers ticket prices.” Or, “Governor won’t investigate waste of $609 million.” That’s the original taxpayer cost. For a building that opened in 2001. If it’s already falling apart after such a short period, Wisconsin should be suing the engineers/contractors who built it.
Finally, this: lawmakers were “spurred by the threat of losing tens of millions of dollars in tax revenue.” Reading the lawmakers’ minds, are we? (This is something the great economics writer Dean Baker complains about in economic policy reporting.) If the lawmakers think that spending hundreds of millions to protect tens of millions makes “tax revenue” sense, then they are clearly insane and that should be your story. Obviously the real threat was that the team will move.
I’m sure there are lawmakers stupid enough to believe the phony-baloney “public benefit” numbers that PR firms create for sports teams; hopefully, most of them aren’t that dumb. I fully expect teams to threaten to leave unless they’re given oodles of free money; I wish reporters, and especially politicians, would be more open and honest about why the teams get the money.
At least it’s not Wisconsin’s disastrous billions in subsidies to a tech company and getting absolutely nothing in return; at least it’s not the Twins running a TV ad saying that if the team left Minnesota, it would make a kid sick with cancer sad… an ad that aired after the child had died. So it could be worse.
In completely less important news, Trevor Plouffe says the Twins want to do some all-ex-jock, no-play-by-play-guy broadcasts this year. In the style of a popular ESPN football broadcasting thing. (Everything that makes sports coverage more bro-tastic is popular.) Plouffe thinks it’s a bad idea, that it probably won’t work, and how he doesn’t like the ESPN broadcasts. But, he says, “I’m excited to try it.” Sure. It’s fun to try new things. Sometimes.
The day, however, belongs to former Twin (and, briefly, Brewer) Rich Rollins, who died this week at the age of 87. Rollins was a fairly light-hitting third/second baseman, but he was a very bright guy with a strong work ethic and the Twins liked having him around; he was with the team from 1961-1968. (Went 0-2 with a walk in the 1965 World Series.) He made the All-Star team twice in 1962! (From 1959-1962, there were two All-Star games.)
SABR’s Rick Schabowski has a typically thorough profile, including this story which Rollins told about meeting his future wife: “I was rooming in Minneapolis in ’62. One o’clock at night, I get this knock on the door. I’m up reading a book; I’m the only one in the apartment and this gal is at the door, in tears, and her father had just been killed in an automobile accident. She just needed someone to talk to. She knocked on the door, and we went out for coffee. We got back at 3 o’clock in the morning, and that was the first time I met her.”
Rollins married that same “former United Airlines stewardess” the next year. (Back then, United wouldn’t allow their flight attendants to be married.) They had six kids and 11 grandkids.
Another enjoyable profile is by a HOF employee, Bruce Markusen; that’s where I stole the picture from. It’s more fun because Markusen is just a giant baseball card nerd, and I like nerds. Makusen writes, “his smarts, his work ethic and his easygoing personality allowed him to forge out a 10-year career in the big leagues, along with a successful second career in the front offices of two professional sports teams. Rollins’ success should teach us to never underestimate the kid with the big glasses.”
Right on!
OK, one extra factoid. You know the TV show Laverne & Shirley, set in Milwaukee? You know the annoying characters Lenny & Squiggy? in 1979 they put out an album, Lenny and the Squigtones. You can see the sleeve photo in this link. That photo shows Christopher Guest and labels him “Nigel Tufnel.” That’s his Spinal Tap character name. Lenny was played by Michael McKean — “David St. Hubbins” in Spinal Tap. They were only one Harry Shearer away!